Video of the previous 2014 rhythm colloquium

Over the last weeks we went into the rabbit hole of Kukishin Ryu and especially paid respect and training time to the formidable Oni Kudaki armlock. As Z. said, the focus that Kukishin Ryu puts on this difficult lock is unprecedented in martial arts.

At the last sessions, last week, we worked on the riddle from a different direction, more battle ready, and did the special Tai Sabaki that epitomises Kukishin Kata. This background will also serve us at the Ran Levari, AKBAN Berlin Dojo Cho, upcoming seminar.

Before Yom Kipur, this Friday morning, 29.9.2017, 07:00-08:00, we will condense a fitness and technique seminar in the water at the sea shore. Wear AKBAN shorts and tee-shirt.

Here’s a link to registration page, number of places limited… click here to register (AKBAN Active students only).

In the dojo, we have been working on several subjects since the beginning of September: Several opponents, stance for grappling, combining kicks and strikes, evasion 7-8 and entering an arm lock from a double strike.

This week we will learn elbows and combine this with Jumonji and sharp weapons, in preparation for Sukkot Sharp weapons seminar.

Rituals have energy, but the proper routine has hidden power. A training regime that is going on correctly is the engine of a long train whose cars will push to keep moving even if the locomotive thinks about stopping.

Our routine, at the beginning of every fall, is a reminder. We walk on an ancient trail that went on for hundreds of years, a path whose song line I received from my teacher, Doron Navon, a path of martial arts practice. On this centuries-old road, weapons have changed, enemies became friends and we do not yet know what foxes we will see, what hides behind the curve. Modernity makes old paths disappear, sometimes it’s unseen, hardly threaded.

It’s not enough to walk, you have to walk in a certain style. It’s important to know what language we speak, what is my family name, what is your family name, what is our family name, what is our uniform, where we did start and where we will not set foot.

This reminder is a choice, this choice is not comfortable.

In AKBAN we wear black gi. Beginners wear pants and upper jacket, advanced practitioners, from three years onward, wear the Hakama, Japanese combat skirt. On the chest, on the left side, an embroidered Akban Kamon.

This is how we start training from tomorrow, September 2017 till July 2018, preparing for the next Blitz.

This is the 31st year I teach. This is ritual and the routine of what we do.

The sparring we do during the Blitz month are recorded in slo-mo video, edited and are sent to private WhatsApp accounts of every AKBAN practitioner. Every bout is debriefed, using the Methodical pyramid, and the conclusions are applied in the next session. Every week I video, edit and send more then 150 bouts.

The “120” concluding event will take place in Wednesday, August the 30th, 18:00 in Tel Aviv. I will update on the exact place.

Video of randori after 1.5 hours, Jerusalem dojo

Till 2016, practitioners in Akban sparred for the whole length of the session in August, it’s called the blitz month. This year I added 20+ minutes of chaotic kata to get into ‘mindless mindfulness’ at the randori.

We always video all the sparring sessions, slo-mo the clips and send them individually to each practitioner so that I can debrief the techniques. I now see the results of the efforts we made over the last three months, but there is a lot of room for improvement.

Hundreds and thousands of punches later, in extreme heat and humidity, and we changed something fundamental in the way we conduct kata training in AKBAN.

The way I learned it, from my teacher Doron Navon, is that when practicing the pre-determined drills of our tradition, the kata, the Uke and the Tori decide what kata, what mutual drill is to be done and practice it.

Two things about this practice bothered me: when practicing one drill at a time there is no element of surprise and another is that in the regular way we did kata there was rarely any impact, no feeling of punching.

If, while preparing our slow advance in the methodical pyramid, we neglect to practice in a combat situation that is more and more chaotic, we then arrive at the chaotic sparring practice (Randori) or even a real skirmish (Takakai) with no inner abilities to use our form in the random reality that is a fight.

The ‘Impact Q&A’ we have been learning through ‘Mindless mindfulness’ changed all that, we now have a superior practice tool that will reconstitute our ancient tradition and breath new life into the patterns of our art.

When all this happens in the Israeli hot and humid summer it poses some new challenges. I have shortened some sessions, especially in Tel Aviv, to lower the risk of a heatstroke.

This week we will integrate sabaki and kicks. Please bring water and punching equipment.

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